John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I suspect that we do not agree on many of the issues raised by the Deputy in the first half of his contribution. I come from a very rural part of County Kilkenny and have to admit that in the past ten or 15 years there has been an increase in illegal dumping. There are about 10,000 acres of State forestry just above my home place and the scale of illegal dumping is huge. It is in close proximity to a number of large urban centres and while the local authority does great work in trying to tidy up the mess, there is no doubt that there has been a huge increase in illegal dumping in certain parts of the country and that it is a blight on the landscape.

Generally, local authorities respond quickly. While issues can arise with site ownership when dumping takes place on private property, I tend to find that councils are responsive enough.

The privatisation of bin collection services has been discussed on many occasions. It is true that it is an example of an activity in which councils were previously involved, but they no longer have this power. However, they still have forums in which they deal with waste, water and housing service matters. Some local authorities kept their housing maintenance functions when they lost the broader house-building function, which means that there are still some tradesmen operating within local authorities. A large number of houses came into local authority use at the height of the Celtic tiger when Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 was working reasonably well, if somewhat differently from local authority to local authority. The reality is that after ten years of recession, many builders have left the country. Many people of my age who were involved in the construction sector have left it. As a result of this and the change that took place with Part V, local authorities have been removed from the direct provision of local authority housing. There are many houses at various stages of planning and development across the country. I do not think it matters to the recipient of a local authority house whether the house is built by somebody who is directly employed by a local authority or by a developer on licence or contract to the local authority. The problem is that we do not have enough local authority houses, but more are being developed.

This is the first time I have heard Deputy Mick Barry or anybody from his group speak about the issue of directly elected mayors, on which I have an open mind. I can see that in certain places across the world benefits have accrued from giving a specific person responsibility for some of the functions of the executive. We will have a broader discussion when the paper goes to the Government and is brought back here for discussion by members of the committee. I am not sure directly elected mayors are part of a larger neoliberal agenda in the way described by the Deputy. I agree with Deputy Shane Cassells that local democracy would not be advanced by creating a position without giving it sufficient functions, powers, roles and scope. I do not suggest we could not give additional powers, functions and roles to directly elected office holders in the future, if that is what the Oireachtas decides. I am not sure whether Mr. Lemass has anything to add to what I have said.